No dome lights, headlights stay on...

[97gst_spyder]

So my car has been a massive project since day one. Now this is a brand new issue, never seen before.

The dome lights do not work at all anymore with doors. But the mirror lights will come on if I turn them on. All the outside lighs work. But if you have the door open and turn the headlights on then off with the doors still open they will stay on. until the door is closed. Just the headlights, no other light.

Can the factory anti-theft do this if fubar'd?
Can a blown alt fuse cause this?

Anything else?

 

[BLINKY619]

alarm...! pretty sure its that... but i may be wrong i had the same problem but it was a aftermarket alarm...!

 

[slowboy101]

this is really weird never heard of this before

 

[97gst_spyder]

this is really weird never heard of this before

Yea, your telling me. The car had an shitty alarm in it, I removed it (correctly) due to it killing the battery everyday and not letting the car start. No issues for the past 8months until this.

Its kinda like this last night...

Open door -
No dome lights -
Has power to car -
Headlights stay on only if door is open then off when closed - WTF

 

[luv2rallye]

Was the alarm the factory one or aftermarket?

If aftermarket, did you remove it physically or just disconnect it? Did the aftermarket have any additional relays added to flash headlights and are they removed?

If you disconnect both door open switches do you still have headlight problem?

When you open door what power are you talking about when you say "has power to car" (ignition, radio, everything?)?

Usually no dome lights with door open on a 2g is a bad ETACS-ECU (pricey) or faulty door switches. Try cleaning door switches.

The weird headlight operation may be a bad ground somewhere or wires shorting (possibly under the engine fusebox).

 

[97gst_spyder]

Was the alarm the factory one or aftermarket?

The one I removed was aftermarket, the factory one (I dont realyy know that I have) is still in there, if it came installed.

If aftermarket, did you remove it physically or just disconnect it? Did the aftermarket have any additional relays added to flash headlights and are they removed?

I removed everything, there was only a brain box, shock sensor, and ignition relay, all removed. Everything was resoldered and shrink tube installed.

If you disconnect both door open switches do you still have headlight problem?

I haven't tried that yet.

When you open door what power are you talking about when you say "has power to car" (ignition, radio, everything?)?

When I turn the parking lights/headlights on the dash lights up. The car will start, also with the safc2, aem uego. I dont have a radio.

Usually no dome lights with door open on a 2g is a bad ETACS-ECU (pricey) or faulty door switches. Try cleaning door switches.

The passanger one was bad, so I bought both (cheapest oem part I've ever seen from Mitsu).

The weird headlight operation may be a bad ground somewhere or wires shorting (possibly under the engine fusebox).

I'll have to look at everything tonight.

 

[gusu]

On my old 95 GST I had this problem after I removed the stock head unit. I can't remember exactly what caused it but hey at least you have some clue as to where to start looking.

I wish I could help out more, I'll let you know if I remember anything.

 

[freelancefool]

I recently had this problem on my TSi. I changed the battery terminals and the issue went away.

 

[97gst_spyder]

I recently had this problem on my TSi. I changed the battery terminals and the issue went away.

I have a brand new battery and terminals... I hate issues like this.

 

[freelancefool]

Check the headlight relay for corrosion? The headlights turn on when they see a ground, so they technically have power all the time. Maybe see if you have a common ground somewhere. I don't have the FSM handy right now.

 

[97gst_spyder]

Update, I swapped out the old drivers side door switch. Headlights do not stay on anymore. But dome lights still don't work. Also, if I leave the lights on there is no buzzer at all...

 

[luv2rallye]

ETACS-ECU controls lights on buzzer, door open lights, theft alarm and many other things.

 

[tweek814]

I have a very similar problem with my dome. It doesn't respond ever to the door being open, however they work when i switch them on.. I too have an after market alarm/remote start that was installed when I bought the car. Its a viper alarm system that I dont even have the remote to.

Also just the other day, don't know if it just started or if I just never noticed it before but.. After shutting my car off and pulling the key out of the ignition entirely and opening the door, my power windows/sunroof still worked!? I even shut and reopened the door several times along with turning the ignition on and off. No matter what I did my power options kept working. Radio and everything was still off, only power options?

 

[luv2rallye]

2g's have the following feature:
Power window timer function:
When the ignition key is turned off, the ETACS timer function is activated, and the power window can be opened and closed using the power window switch for 30 seconds. The power window timer stops, however, if a door or liftgate is
opened within 30 seconds.

 

[97gst_spyder]

Ok so is there a way to test the ETACS-ECU? Also, where is it?


BTW, everyone thanks for all the help!


** I found it, how do you test it? **

 

[luv2rallye]

Unfortunately there is no test - all you can do is swap with another. It plugs into the other side of the junction block that the inside fusebox is on.

 

[97gst_spyder]

Some new findings....

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So as most of you can see there is corrosion on the plug on the ETACS-ECU, on bottom of the ETACS-ECU board, and on the fuse box itself on the left relay connectors hardcore and at the bottom. Now the fuse box is made of three layers plastic with some insane engineering involved metal connectors. So who knows if within the layers if there is corrosion or not, I'm not taking it apart.

 

[luv2rallye]

Yep the corrosion is most likely the problem, and even if not, it needs to be cleaned off. Hopefully it didn't damage any components on the board. After cleaning off connector pins put some (conductive) dielectric grease (any auto store) on the pins to protect them from corrosion in future.

The first pic is a nice shot of the ETACS-ECU.